HYPOINT

     Film Team B Hypoint Project

Film Team B is comprised of four CG spectrum students, from four different departments. Animation, VFX, Real-time, and Compositing. We worked remotely, to combine our skills in our first collaborative project, Hypoint. A near dystopian future were robots govern humans. We hope you enjoy your stay.

 BTS  (BEHIND THE SCREEN)

                          Animation

Hello, I'm Gabriel and my responsibility, as animator of the group, was to create the motions for the robotic antagonist. Including the Walk, Idle and Fall animations.

One challenge I faced early on was transferring the finished animations from Maya to my team member using Unreal Engine. 

The rig itself did not have any IK/FK controls, we had to create them in Maya, but with the assistance of the highly skilled Dakota George the appropriate controls were created and the animation came to be.

Another challenge was that the animations themselves. The fluidity and weight of the character's walk and fall animations were iterated on in several variations until one was eventually settled upon for each animation.

The idea for a narration came within the group to provide a sense of world building in our project. Through our refined script and my voice into a robotic filter we were able to create a chilling presence in our story.

My experience working on this project has taught me a great deal about the importance of communication, the need for clear road mapping, and the importance of deadlines.

Individually my team’s and I’s parts would have been minuscule, but together we created something that none of us could do alone and I couldn't be more proud of what we created.

                                VFX

Hello, I am Shanika Whiters, and I was responsible for the VFX aspect of the project. Our primary objective was to determine which effect we needed and what we could create in the amount of time we were given. As a team, we opted for a muzzle flash, gun smoke, and smoke for smoke stacks to enhanced to visual appeal of the background. An explosion and head fracture simulation for the robots head were also created for our climatic sequence. I also created the graphics for our project. Such as the billboard. Additionally I handled the sound design.

For the smoke component, I developed a versatile system in Houdini that could be utilized in various ways. By working with volumes and converting them into VDBs, I created an asset with adjustable controls, making it adaptable for different scenes. This approach enabled me to create a pillar of smoke that provided my teammate Dakota with the option to use it for both smoke and flames in the car crash scene.

I take pride in being a part of Team B and I hope you enjoy the content.

                       Real-Time 3D 

Hi! I'm Dakota George and I was responsible for Set Dressing, implementing Animations and VFX inside of Unreal, and Virtual Camera Matching.

We decided to use Epic's City Sample project as our virtual set. This gave us a virtual city to film in. 

ActionVFX supplied the green screen footage and was kind enough to list the camera specs for the green screen clips we decided to use. Once I had the camera sensors, focal length, and aperture recreated virtually, it was time to frame the shot. I used image plates attached to the camera to accurately match the camera angles.

Having the green screen actor in a live virtual camera view ensured there was no guess work in the CGI background renders. I could position our robot and Gabriel’s animations with consideration for the composited actor before it even goes to post. This and the ability to adjust animations inside Unreal engine, made matching the eye line of the robot a breeze. This also provided a reference image for Edgar to use in the composite. Keeping look development unified.

Once I had Gabriel's Animations inside Unreal, all I had to do was lift the arm and tilt the head to match the eyeline to the Green screen actor. I did this all inside of Unreal's Sequencer. While the robot actor was in the production environment. This allowed me to feel out where the point of impact would be for the explosion. Making sure the Robot hit its mark when blending the walk animation together with the fall animation.

Shanika Created a great VDB smoke asset that could double as fire too. It was used through out the trailer. And is a big part of set dressing for our climax. Adding smoke to the staged car crash and is mixed in with a composited fire for added effect.

I used Ultra Dynamic Sky, a tool from the Unreal Marketplace, to art direct our sky. The City Sample project already had great lighting, but we wanted something with more mood. This tool allowed me to customize our sky while easily maintaining realistic lighting.

A mid-production, in editor screen shot with image plate of green screen actor, Ultra Dynamic Sky implemented and a Smoke Stack effect curtesy or Shanika.

When it came time to render the CGI backgrounds I included an Object ID's render pass in the EXR's. This allowed Edgar to employ a Cryptomatte to effortlessly isolate any 3d mesh or actor in the composite. 

                                                                                                  COMPOSITING

Hello, my name is Edgar, and I was responsible for the compositing and final grading of this project.

To achieve this, I utilized cryptomattes provided by Dakota to mask elements on the plate, allowing me to manipulate them separately. My first task was to replace the sky with the one used in other shots and match the color of the plate, applying some defocus as well. I then used the cryptomattes to mask and stencil various parts with some alternative FX elements using hints of occlusions glows and defocus, also tracking the hand to have the glow on it. Then I layered on the green screen plate, carefully keying and comp’ing it in.

Finally for the explosion to enhance the robot head being split I rotoed out some bigger pieces of the skull to mask them and animate them individually into the shot, adding glow and a bit of camera shake to increase te sensation.

Another shot I composited using similar methods to maintain visual continuity throughout the project.

After completing the compositing, I did several types of gradings for the short film, from which the team and I decided to go with the classic teal and orange look.

Contact info

Dakota George - Real time 3d - [email protected]

Shanika Whiters - VFX - [email protected]

Gabriel Erickson - Animator -  [email protected]

Edgar Ascarrunz - Compositing - [email protected]